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2- Sheets-Sheet 1.

v 'J. M. DODGE. APPARATUS FOR UNLOADING BOATS.

(No Model.)

Patented Sept. 10, 1889.

WITNESSES /6.@%. /6

By. Iforney N. PETERS. mwm wr, WuNngtaa. n. c.

(No Mod-e1.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. M. DODGE. APPARATUS FOR UNLOADING BOATS.

No. 410,883. Patented Sept. 10, 1889.

FIGJ'.

T ES Q INVEN OR. 4 v W W. 47

N. PETERS. PlmoLillwgnphcr. wmin m. u c,

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES M. DODGE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE DODGE COAL STORAGE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

APPARATUS FOR UNLOADING BOATS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 410,883, dated September 10, 1889.

Application filed December 3, 1888. Serial No. 292,515. (No model.)

T 60% whom it may concern.- A represents the lower portion of an ob- Be it known that I, JAMES M. DODGE, of liquely, arranged ordinary conveyer-trough, Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia which is permanently arranged relatively to and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a and rests upon the beach or shore a of the 5 new and useful Improved Apparatus for Unriver or other piece of water in which are loading Boats; and I do hereby declare that supposed to be the boats or barges from the following is a full, clear, and exact dewhich it is desired to extricate or carry off scription thereof, reference being had to the the coal or other material to be handled. accompanying drawings, making part of this This inclined ordinary conveyer-trough is 1o specification; supposed to extend upwardly in the direction My invention relates to certain new and indicated by the arrows (see Figs. 2 and 3) useful improvements in apparatuses or cononto the shore and to a sufficient extent, if trivances for conveying or removing coal and necessary, to assist in the conveyance of the other analogous materials from the barge or coal or other material to a suitable elevation 15 vessel in a river to any requisite destination either for its discharge by gravity into storor locality on landas, for instance, to the age-bins or into the cars of transportation proper elevation for discharge either into railroad-trains. storage-bins or into railroad cars for trans- B is an adjustable extension-trough, which portation. is constructed after the fashion of any ordi- 20 To enable those skilled in the art to which nary conveyor-trough,but which is supported myimprovements relate to make and use the at its inner end upon suitable wheels 0, which same, I will now proceed to describe my inrest and travel upon the upper edges of the vention,referringbyletters to the accompanystationary trough A, this end of the said exing drawings, which form a part of this specitension-trough B being adapted to slide im- 25 fication, and in which I have shown so much mediately over and partially Within the deof the working apparatus or contrivanc'e as is pression of the stationary trough A. This necessary to fully illustrate the several feaadjustable extension-trough B, which is detures of improvement made by me. signed to extend about horizontally out over In the drawings, Figure 1 is a partial side the surface of the water, (whichis illustrated 9 View or elevation of a contrivance made a'cby broken lines at 10,) has its outer end sus-' cording to my invention. Fig. 2 is a similar pended and supported by means of a suitable view with the chain conveyor and some other float D in the following manner: Said float D devices omit-ted for the sake of simplicity, and is made of any suitable size, shape, and mateillustrating by dotted lines certain adjustrial, and is formed or provided with a super- 3 5 ments of the floating parts and their dependstructure or frame-work (Z, and the extensionencies, to be hereinafter referred to. Fig. 3 trough is provided with a bail-like metallic is a view similar to Fig. 1, but with some of upwardly-projecting frame 6, from the apex the mechanism omitted for the sake of simof which an ascending and supporting cableplicity, and showing by dotted lines certain chain f passes over a sustaining pulley or 0 4o adjustments or changes in the positions of sheave g, the axle of which is mounted in the parts different from the adjustments illussuitable stands h, arranged on the upper part trated at Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an end view of of the frame-work cl of the float. Said chain the apparatus shown in side elevation at Fig. passes thence about horizontally to and par- 1, looking in the direction indicated by the tially around another sheave or chain-wheel 45 arrow at the last-mentioned figure. Fig. 5 is t, thatis similarly supported by suitable stands a partial top view of the apparatus shown'in j, and descends thence to a winding-drum k, side view at Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a detail view, the shaft of which is mounted in suitable bearon an enlarged scale, of the winding-drum. ing-boxes secured to the lower portion of the In the several figures the same parts will frame-work d of the float, all as clearly shown. 10c 50 be found designated by the same letters of The shaft of this winding-drum is provided, reference. preferably, with a worm-gear, with which engages a suitable worm, the shaft of which is provided, as shown, with a crank-handle "m, by means of which it can be turned in one direction or the other to either wind up the chain f upon the drum 7,: or to let it out therefrom, as occasion may require. This float D, with its superstructure and the mechanism for supporting at any desired elevation the outer portion of the extension-trough B, is located far enough within the extreme outer end of such extension-trough to permit the free passage beneath the outer portion of said trough of the barge or vessel (roughly illustrated at T) from which it may be desired to remove the material to be handled, and this barge or vessel having been brought to the proper location widt-hwise relatively to the outer portion of the extension-trough B, said extension-trough has its outermost portions adjusted vertically by the mechanism on the float D, just above described, so as to bring the trough as close down to the upper surface of the barge as practicable, so that the coal or other material in the vessel or barge may be shoveled by hand directly from the barge into the said extension-trough B; and as the vessel or barge lightens by the partial removal of its cargo, and consequently rises in the water, the outer portion of said extensiontrough is now and then lifted or elevated accordingly by the suspended and elevating mechanism just referred to.

\Vithin the extension-trough B travel, in the usual manner, the flights of the lower run of an ordinary chain conveyer, the outerturn of which chain conveyer travels around an ordinary sprocket-wheel p, the shaft of which is mounted in suitable bearings in astand q, that is secured to and is supported by the outer end of said extension-trough. This ordinary chain conveyor has its upper run supported at suitable intervals by idlers 0', as clearly illustrated at Fig. 1, that are supported by the extension-trough B, and the latter may also be provided near its inner end with an improved device for supporting the upper run, as shown at 8, (see Fig. 1,) that is made the subject of another application of mine, Serial No. 292,516, filed December 3, 1888, and need not be particularly described herein. The said conveyor chain is supposed to be continued, of course, in the direction indicated by the arrow at the left-hand side of Fig.1 to practically the same extent to which the permanent conveyer-trough A may extend in the same direction, and has the flights of its lower run, after they leave the inner end of the extension-through B, arranged to work within the ascending portion of the stationary conveyor-trough A in a manner well known to those skilled in the art.

The object and effect of the arrangement of the inner end of the extension-trough B so as to slide longitudinally partially within and on top of the stationary trough A are to permit any desired adjustment of the extension-trough B endwise that may be necessary to acommodate said extension-trough and the position. of its supporting-float D to any rise and fall of the water over which the extension-trough is supported and in which the vessels or barges have to be brought to anchor for the discharge of their cargo, and of course it will be understood that whenever the extension-trough 13 has to be either slid out or drawn farther inland the endless-chain eonveyer 0 has to be correspondingly let out and taken up. One of the means by which this must be done constitutes the subject-matter of another application by me filed simultaneously with this one, Serial No. 292,516, in which will be found fully described one way of eifecting the taking up and letting out of the conveyer-chain. Supposing, for instance, that the tide of the river (illustrated by broken lines at w) is high at Fig. 1, and understanding that the parts of the apparatus and also the barge are all shown in proper relative condition in said figure, it will be understood that in the event of the lowering of the tide, so that the barge T would have to be brought up for discharge to a locality more distant from the shore, under such changed conditions (as to the tide and the necessary location of the barge T) the float I) would have to be placed farther away from the shore and the extension-trough 13 run farther out, it and the float maintaining about the same level relatively to the water. This movement or adjustment of the parts is illustrated at Fig. 3, where the dotted lines are supposed to represent the float D, the extension-trough B, and the barge '1 in the same positions in which these parts appear at Fig. 1, but in full lines in a changed position,sueh as necessitated by the exigency just above mentioned. In effecting this adjustment of the apparatus for the changed position of the barge T the inner end of the extension-trough lslides down easily slightly within and innuediately over the permanent conveyer-trough A, its supporting-wheels c facilitating the movement of theheavy structure in this manner and in the requisite direction, and at the same time, of course, the endless-chain conveyer O (which, as before remarked, must be made distensible and contractible) is sullieiently let out to permit the necessary movement of the combined devices.

During the operation of unloading the boat or barge T, no matter in what adjust ment endwise the extension-trough B may be, said extension-trough, as before remarked, is adjusted vertically at its outermost portion, so as to maintain said portion in close prox imity to the upper part of the barge as the latter may rise or fall, according to the condition of its cargo, and in performing the unloading operation the barge is of course, as usual, moved back and forth endwise, so as to relieve it of its contents in a proper manner, said barges usually being of considerable length in proportion to their width.

It will be understood, of course, that by the use of an apparatus or contrivance such as I have herein shown and so far described the shoveling of the coal from the interior of the barge into the extension-trough B can be very conveniently accomplished by reason of the close proximity which can be maintained of said trough to that portion of the barge at which the shoveling operations may have to be conducted, and it will also be seen that by virtue of the distensible and contractible endless-chain conveyer, in combination with the telescopic trough, or, in other words, with the stationary trough and its longitudinallyadjustable extension, a great variation in the position relatively to the shore of the barges 'l is permissible without in the least affecting the perfect efficiency of the continuouslyoperating and automatic devices for conveying the material shoveled directly from the barge into the extension-trough B off and upwardly to any desired elevation or distance.

Of course, in the mere details of construction of the various parts and devices many modifications and changes may be made without departing from the novel features of my improved contrivance or apparatus for unloading boats or barges and conveying the coal or other material therefrom to any desired locality on the shore.

As is well known to those familiar with the subject of handling coal and other material to be delivered on shore from vessels, it frequently happens at places where the bed or bottom is shallow and the rise and fall of the water considerable that a great variation occurs with reference to the point to which, relatively to the shore and stationary devices, the barge can be brought for the discharge of its cargo, and in such cases my improved apparatus possesses marked advantages over and greater efficiency than any contrivances heretofore devised that I know of,

Having now so fully explained the general construction and mode of operation of my improved apparatus that those skilled in the art can make and use the same, embodying either all or only some of the features of my improvements, whatI claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an apparatus or contrivance for discharging coal or other material from vessels or barges to a given point or locality on shore while the said vessels or barges maybe at variable distances from and at different levels relatively to the point of discharge of the material, the combination of the following instrumentalities, arranged and operating together in substantially the manner hereinbefore specified, viz: first, a stationary conveyer-trough extending from the point of discharge of the material down into the water; second, a movable conveyer-trough extension having its inner end movably supported within the said stationary conveyer-trough; third, a suitable float for supporting the highermost portion of said trough-extension in close proximity to and parallel with the deck of the barge or vessel to be unloaded, and, fourth, an endless chain provided with flights which travel within and convey the material shoveled from the hold of the vessel into the extension-trough, along through the latter, and also thence upwardly through the stationary conveyer-trough.

2. In combination with. the stationary conveyer-trough extending down into the water, a conveyer-t-rough extension bearing at one end on and both longitudinally and pivotally movable relatively to the stationary trough, and a conveyer-chain having its flights arranged and operating within said stationary trough, and also within said movable troughextension, substantially in the manner and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth. 3. In combination with the stationary inclined conveyer-trough, a horizontal branch or extension thereof bearing at one end thereon and longitudinally and pivotally movable relatively thereto, and a conveyer-chain operating in conjunction with said extension of said stationary trough, means for vertically supporting the outer end of said extension, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 13th day of October, 1888.

, JAMES M. DODGE.

In presence of-- E. M. TURNER, M. GETZ. 

